WCAI News

WOODS HOLE – A skeptical crowd filled the Woods Hole Community Hall November 13th to learn about the Steamship Authority's plans to reconstruct the Woods Hole Ferry Terminal. The Authority is looking to address problems related to boat slips and pedestrian safety, while also improving accessibility and meeting flood zone requirements.

The U.S. Coast Guard has determined that the light keeper’s house that sits next to the much-photographed Nobska Lighthouse in Woods Hole is, “excess to the mission of the Coast Guard,” according to a spokesman.

That determination clears the way for the government to lease the nearly 140-year-old house to another organization, or to sell it.

Spokesman Joe Klinker says the Coast Guard will always keep possession of the light, which remains an aid to navigation.

Statehouse Seminar Applies Lessons from Fukushima to Pilgrim Power Station in Plymouth

At the statehouse Wednesday a seminar focused on the lessons from Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear catastrophe as applied to the Pilgrim nuclear power station in Plymouth. Moderating that discussion was WCAI’s Sean Corcoran. Panel members at the seminar included Naoto Kan, the former Prime Minister of Japan; Dr. Gregory Jaczko, former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); and State Senator Dan Wolf of Harwich. In the audio posted above, Sean Corcoran discusses the event on All Things Considered with Steve Junker, including the issues of evacuating Cape Cod in the event of an incident at the Plymouth Nuclear Power Station, and Senator Wolf's assertion that the rewards for keeping Pilgrim are not worth the risk.

The colorful "Day of Portugal" kicked off a weekend celebration in New Bedford on June 6th. This is the 16th year New Bedford has hosted the event which began with the raising of the flag outside city hall.

Check out the brightly colored skirts called saia that girls wear along with kerchiefs and gold earrings. The boys don leggings known as calsas, waistcoats and sombreros.

Falmouth voters went to the polls in force yesterday, and delivered a mandate: do NOT take down the wind turbines.

A whopping 41% of registered voters turned out for town elections. And the vast majority voted not to appropriate funds for the removal of Wind-1 and Wind-2, the two town-owned wind turbines at the center of a controversy that pits clean energy advocates against neighbors who say their health is impacted by the turbines. The margin on Question 2 was 2:1, with 6,001 votes against the measure and 2,940 voting for it.

With the two, 400-foot-tall turbines slowly spinning in the background, Rob Laird talks about climate change, and how he first thought the machines would be part of the solution.

"'This is great. This is going to solve lots of problems. And look it's right in my backyard. And that's kind of neat because it's this new cool thing coming along.' And then they turned it on. And it wasn't 20 minutes after that I called Town Hall. 'Um, this thing is really loud.'"